Asher is in kindergarten in Vancouver, WA. He is currently undergoing testing to find out if he has autism. While he waits for an official diagnosis, his school isn't able to place him in special education classes. “They can't give him the services, they can’t do all these different things that kids with that diagnosis can,” his mom Leslie told KGW news.
As if his situation isn't stressful enough, Asher has recently been struggling with tying his shoes. He gets frustrated, and it breaks Leslie's heart to watch her son get so upset. It has become an everyday occurrence for Asher to come home from school with his laces untied, which also puts him at risk of tripping and/or hurting himself. Leslie was beginning to feel helpless.
But one day last week, Asher returned home from school when his mom noticed something strange about his feet. "My 5 year old son came home from school with his shoe laces gone…" she wrote on Facebook. When Leslie realized what a stranger had done with Asher's shoes, she was completely blown away. Just wait until you see.
Now, Leslie's Facebook post is now going viral, leaving people all over the country stunned…
"My 5 year old son came home from school with his shoe laces gone from Glenwood Heights Primary School in Brush Prairie, Washington/ Battle Ground School District.
Let me elaborate:"
"My 5 year old son is autistic. Every day he struggles with his shoes. While this may not be a big thing to some, it's everything to him. He has times where he cannot control himself and has ticks and unties his laces. He cannot re-tie them. He does this for multiple reasons but it's become a daily occurrence. I've struggled within myself to take away his laced up shoes but didn't know if it would just encourage the behavior. Every single day, same thing. ..he'd walk off he bus with those shoes untied. I felt at a loss..not sure what to do, and felt heart broken every time I would see him get off the bus with his laces dangling. He even felt bad about it and would hang his head in shame knowing his shoes were to be tied. and as a Mother I felt helpless..
Until 2 days ago."
"Asher came home without his laces. He had these replacing them, with a note and instructions in his backpack about these special laces. I teared up. I couldn't believe that someone went out of their way to help him and even found these special laces I had no clue about. I just want to thank whomever that came into Miss Lefevber's kindergarten class and did this for my Son.
He's so proud of his new laces and has not touched his shoes out of habit once."
"Now I realize it's not about making him get used to regular laces. It's about meeting him where he is, and if that means special laces… then so be it. His smile, and to see him confident about his shoes means everything.
Thank you Glenwood Heights Primary school for your amazing staff and those around our children."
"You've sincerely touched my heart and your kindness to my Son and his special needs when you didn't have to, and this day in age it is very easy to just treat a child as "another head" in a classroom.
- Ashers Mom"
What an incredible act of kindness. We need more stories like this in the world! If you agree, please SHARE this with your friends on Facebook!
